The present invention relates generally to improvements in electrical devices intended for surface mounting on printed wiring boards and in the mounting components thereof. Conventional mounting posts typically include hooked ends that are used to snap an electrical device into place on a printed wiring board. However, such mounting posts have many deficiencies. For example, when the hooked ends of the mounting posts of a board-mounted device snaps into engagement with the underside of the board, the impact may cause other components to be jarred loose. Further conventional mounting components typically include separate elements for locating the electrical device and for retaining the device to the printed wiring board.
An improvement over the hooked-end mounting post is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,412, to Hatch et al., entitled "Electrical Device for Surface Mounting on a Circuit Board and Mounting Component Thereof." The Hatch et al. mounting device includes a pair of positioning posts and a molded mounting post. The position posts cooperate with corresponding openings in a printed wiring board to position the connector with respect to the board. The separately provided mounting post includes a clip that forms tangs that extend beyond the sides of the post. When the connector employing the Hatch et al. mounting device is mounted to a printed wiring board, the tangs deflected within a receiving hole in the board to retain the connector on the board.
While the Hatch et al. device is an improvement over other conventional mounting posts that mechanically connect devices to printed circuit boards, the Hatch et al. still presents problems in surface mount applications. The Hatch et al. device fails to address problems encountered when mounting electrical connectors to printed wiring boards that have components mounted to both sides of the board as the Hatch et al. mounting device protrudes through the board. Further, the Hatch et al. device does not provide for a reduced-sized connector as separate positioning and mounting posts are required to retain the connector on the board. It would, therefore, be desirable to reduce the space required by the retaining mechanism of an electrical connector. It is also desirable to have a retaining mechanism that reduces the likelihood of interference with other components mounted to the printed wiring board. The present invention provides such a solution.